The kite runner summary Flashcards
chapter 1:
summery?
-Opens in 2001 remembering his betrayal of when Hassan was raped in the alley1975 in Kabul, Afghan
-This betrayal haunts him
-Amir got a call from his friend in Pakistan called Rahim Khan asking Amir to come and see him.
-lives in San Francisco now and was walking around Golden gate park and sees two kites fly overhead, reminding him of Afghan with Hassan – a “kite runner” with a cleft lip.
chapter 1:
quotes/symbols/analysis?
-Rahim tells Amir on the phone that “there is a way to be good again.”
-Amir thinks Rahim’s voice is symbolic of Amir’s “unatoned sins”.
-kites (betrayal and hope for redemption)
chapter 2:
summary?
-Amir recollects his childhood memories with Hassan.
-Hassan obeyed Amir and took the blame when they used to annoy neighbors
-Amir lives in a mansion in the wealthy Wazir Akbar Khan district in Kabul with his dad Baba.
-lavishly decorated house, pic of Amirs grandfather hunting deer with the old king Nadir Shah.
-Explains that one day, Amir and Hassan were walking and a soldier told them he had sex with Sanaubar (Hassans mum) who was young and had a bad reputation.
-Sanubars dad was thought to have arranged their marriage to restore her honor.
-children and Sanaubar mock Ali’s appearance and call him names because he was partially paralyzed due to polio.
-Hassan and Amirs mothers are dead /left but both has the same nursing woman.
-Amir’s first word = “Baba”
Hassan’s first word = “Amir”
chapter 2:
quotes and symbols?
-“Babalu”, “Boogeyman”
-Amir and Hassan’s closeness is emphasized by the fact they were “fed from the same breast”.
-“Baba”, “Amir” = everything that happens later in life was already foretold by those two words = loyalty
-setting of the house
chapter 3:
summary?
-Amir describes Baba and his success
-Amir was jealous when Baba would praise Hassan over him
-complex father-son relationship
Amir’s mum (called Sofia Akrami) was educated, beautiful and of royal blood.
-Baba explains that the only real sin is theft
-Baba was independent of the stricter Muslim rules.
-Amir feels he has betrayed Baba by “killing” his mum.
-Rahim Khan is Baba friend but acts more like a father figure to Amir than Baba does.
-Baba fears Amir will not be able to stand up for himself as an adult.
chapter 3:
quotes and symbols?
-but says air is the “glaring exception” to Baba’s success
-fathers and children theme
chapter 4:
summary?
- STRUCTURAL SHIFT as story shifts to 1933, the year Baba was born and Zahir Shah became king of Afghan.
-the same year, Ali’s parents (Hazara couple) also die in a car accident by two drunk men, Amir’s grandfather was the judge and ordered the drunk men to enlist in the army. He then adopted Ali and Ali became a servant but also as Baba’s playmate.
-Amir acknowledges that the divides between Hazara and Pashtun, Shi’a and Sunni seem insurmountable in Afghan, even by close companionship and love.
-Amir goes to school in Baba’s fancy American car while Hassan is at home cleaning.
-Amir reads to Hassan because he is illiterate. Their fave story is “Rostam and Sohrab” = the warrior Rostam kills his enemy in battle and then discovers his long lost son Sohrab. Amir feels that all fathers have a secret desire to kill their sons.
-Amir recognizes his talent for storytelling as he pretends to be reading a book to Hassan (when it his own story). That night, Amir writes his first story about a man whose tears turned to pearls and makes himself miserable so that he can keep crying and become richer, it ends with him on top of a mountain of pearls, crying over the wife he has murdered.
Amir tries to show Baba his story (who is talking to Rahim Khan). Baba is not interested but Rahim takes the story and offers to read it = Amir wishes Rahim was his father but then feels immediately guilty.
-Rahim Khan leaves a note on Amir’s story and that it has an impressive use of irony and encourages him to keep writing. Amir wakes up Hassan with his excitement and reads the story to him, Hassan makes a comment, making Amir think a cruel thought about Hassan as just an illiterate Hazara.
chapter 4:
quotes and symbols?
-possible parallels between Baba and the king = power
-Hosseini begins to connect the private lives of the characters with the political history of Afghan
-parallels between Baba and Ali with Amir and Hassan.
-Baba is representative of this liberal, Americanized side of Afghan that will be eradicated in years to come.
-Again, Amir fails to please Baba, even though he has “stood up for himself” by writing a story. It is not the kind of talent Baba wants in a son.
-Baba is representative of this liberal, Americanized side of Afghan that will be eradicated in years to come.
-this story of rostam will echo throughout the novel as a symbol of the father-and-son relationships that are important throughout = Amir understands the love/hate nature of his relationship with Baba.
-The adult Amir is the reader so it is clear his ability to write and tell stories will continue to develop = writing about his past guilt will become part of Amir’s redemptive process = the story ends tragically just like Rostam and Sohrab.
-Rahim Khan acts as a father-figure = Says Amir has a “special talent” = father and son relationship
-Amir is selfish, wants to always be better than Hassan and uses his wealth and education to put Hassan down whenever he proves himself better = the Pashtun idea of Hazaras as inferior is deeply ingrained in Amir’s subconscious
chapter 5:
• Assef tries to hit Amir and Hassan defends him
• Assef says he will get revenge
• Assef’s connections to Daoud
• Surgery
summary?
-the same night there is the sound of gunfire in the streets, Amir and Hassan are frightened but Ali embraces them
-Amir and Hassan distract themselves from a political radio show by going to climb a tree, but on the way they are attacked with rocks by Assef, Kamal and Wali = ASSEF FIRST APPEARS
-Amir says he would later realise Assef is a sociopath. Assef also one of the kids that mocks Ali and calls Hazaras derogatory names
-Assef says his dad knows Daoud Khan = more power. Assef believes in Hitlers ideas about ethnic purity, Assef says Afghan is the land of the pashtuns and he wants to purify it of the “dirty” Hazaras
-Amir tries to diffuse the situation but Assef takes out his brass knuckles and says that Amir is making things worse by being friends with Hassan = amir thinks of hassan as his servant rather than friend
-Hassan threatens to slingshot a rock at Assef’s face after Amir is almost hit by Assef. Hassan asks Assef to leave them alone or will have to change his name to “One-Eyed Assef”. Assef is scared and vows to get his revenge someday.
-For a few years after Daoud Khan’s coup, life seems to go back to normal and there’s hope of reform and economic growth. One winter in 1974 Baba got Hassan a plastic surgeon to fix his cleft lip for his birthday. Amir is jealous of all the effort Baba went to.
chapter 5:
quotes/symbols/analysis?
-later, Amir would learn the gunfire symbolised the end of the Afghan monarchy = Daoud Khan had overthrown his cousin King zahir Shah, Daoud then instituted a republic and became president = political intrudes with the private
-Assef is a bully who carries a set of brass knuckles = his arrival is symbolic of the negative political change
-Assef suddenly seems to have more power because his father knows the president = sign of future events, when the violent will be given power over the weak. In assef, Hosseini equates the racism of some Afghans to that of Nazis in Germany
-Hassan proves himself as loyal to Amir while Amir cannot help his racial prejudice against Hassan but the older Amir knows that the younger Amir partly believed Assef and thought Hazaras were inferior.
-Hassans cleft lip was a symbol of contrast to Amir’s privilege as Ali cannot afford to fix his son’s deformity. Hassan is briefly given the privileges of a pushtan.
chapter 6:
summary?
-its winter in Kabul and schools are closed because of snow, everyone spends their time kite flying
-Amir likes flying kites with Baba as that is when they are closest.
-Baba takes Amir and Hassan to a blind old man who makes the best kites, he buys them both get the same kite but Amir wishes Baba would buy him a nicer one than Hassan.
-in the winter there is an annual kite fighting tournament, where boys cover their kite string in broken glass and try to cut their competitors’ kites. when a string is cut, a kite drifts away and “kite runners” chase it, the last kite that falls is a trophy.
-Amir says Hassan is the best kite runner in Kabul as he always knows where the kite will end up. one day Hassan makes Amir wait under a tree for a kite and while they wait, Amir believes they are wasting time and will lose the kite, Amir tests Hassan’s loyalty by asking Hassan to eat dirt for him. Hassan says he would and Amir pretends he was joking, the kite then falls into Hassans arms.
-one night soon before the 1975 kite tournament, Baba tells Amir that he thinks he Amir will win it this year, making his determined to win it. Amir thinks if he wins, Baba will finally forgive him for “killing” his mother.
-the night before the tournament, Amir and Hassan are playing panjpar (a card game), the radio is on in the other room with someone talking about foreign investments and getting tv in Kabul = Amir promises to buy hassan a colour tv someday = amir cant help pitying him for his servent status but Hassan affirms that he likes where he lives.
chapter 6:
quotes/symbols/analysis?
- Amir is desperate for Baba’s approval, jealous whenever hassan is treated as equal rather than inferior
-here, kites symbolise Amir’s idyllic childhood = his relationship with Baba as they are their closest when they fly kites, and his friendship with Hassan
-The young Hassan is essentially a flat, saint like character, a foil to Amir’s selfishness and inner turmoil and a loyal friend. Hassan seems to have an innate, almost mystical feeling for the kites.
-Amir tries to show his superiority over hassan when asking him to eat dirt.
-amirs quest to redeem himself to baba for “killing” his mother is main focus to Amir and hope that it will bring him and Baba together.
-there is still hope for modernisation and progress in afghan at this point in its political history, hassan is sure of his place in the world while amir is in constant turmoil
chapter 7:
summery:
RAPE CHAPTER
-on the morning of the tournament, Hassan tells amir about a dream he had = the were both at Ghargha lake with their fathers and lots of other people. = they all think there is a monster in the lake but then Amir jumped in and Hassan followed, then everyone sees there is no monster.
-Amir wins the tournament, Amir sees Baba on the roof watching while yelling and clapping.
-hassan promises to bring back the kite for Amir, as he runs off he says “for you a thousand times over!”
-Amir imagines him and Baba like Rostam and Sohrab, then goes looking for Hassan and asks neighbours if they
have seen him = one old merchant seems suspicious that amir is looking for a Hazara but tells Amir he saw Hassan going south chased by 3 boys = Amir find Hassan in an alleyway, holding the blue kite, Hassan is facing off against Assef, Kamal and Wali = Amir watches from around the corner and doesnt interrupt
